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This latest novel by William
Boyd has a beguiling premise. It
purports to be a memoir written
by a woman photographer in
the late 1970s, looking over the
extraordinary life she has led
through many of the conflicts of
the 20th century.
Amory Clay was in Berlin in the
1920s and brushed with the early
Nazi thuggery at a time when
they were considered idiots by most Germans. Then she
went on a jaunt to America in the late 1920s.
In 1930s England, she is caught up in Mosley’s fascist
riots. She sees action in World War II, and later the
bug bites her again and off we all go for a Vietnam
experience. Quite a lot to interest the reader, really.
But is it too much? The writer takes us into places and
out of them and on to the next in a kind of Bunnik’s tour
of 70 years.
I kept wondering whether the problem with this novel
might be the central character herself. She has a feckless
aspect to her personality: her photographic career is
formed by her uncle, who gives her a camera and with
whom she falls rather gormlessly in love for a little while
(until she jumps into bed with him naked one night ...
Juan Diego Rivera is having
trouble with his medication.
The pills that help control his
heartbeat tend to “diminish” him
emotionally and physically, yet
despite these side effects he likes
to up his dosage – they give him
the most vivid dreams.
The other pills are Viagra, the
impetus for addiction being quite
clear there.
Because the two prescriptions don’t go hand in hand, I
give you the crux of John Irving’s latest book, Avenue of
Mysteries: should Juan Diego have a lot of sex or should
he dream about his childhood? Looking back to Irving’s
oeuvre, I see this as a common theme.
Irving has long been a safe place for me. When I pick him
up, I know what I’m going to get: a thick book of tragic
humour where relationships unfold in a fast-paced,
light-hearted, personal, accessible prose.
He’s like an old friend I don’t have to analyse. One I
can just enjoy for the sake of enjoyment. But I wonder
if Avenue of Mysteries has gone too far? My ultimate
thought upon finishing this book was: I wish it had been
something new.
As in his other books, Avenue hosts a lively bunch of ...
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Robert Horne
Heather Taylor Johnson
Book review: Avenue of Mysteries
By John Irving | Random House, $32.99
Book review: Sweet Caress
By William Boyd | Bloomsbury, $29.99
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